People & Population

"The Brazilian city of Belém, host to the 30th U.N. Climate Change Conference, is short on hotel rooms. Love motels are offering a solution." 

"In a rugged patch of the Appalachian Trail in eastern Tennessee, volunteers size up a massive, gnarled tree lying on its side. Its tangled web of roots and dark brown soil, known as a root ball, is roughly the size of a large kiddie pool."

"Illegal gold mining in one of Peru's most ecologically significant areas has unleashed environmental destruction and gang violence."

"The residents of Westernport, Maryland, overwhelmingly voted for Trump. But after FEMA denied its aid request, the town feels like the president has turned his back on them."

"A group of US lawmakers failed on Tuesday to beat back a provision in a congressional appropriations bill that would help protect pesticide makers from being sued and could hinder state efforts to warn about risks of pesticide products."

"The Interior Department is expanding its targets for layoffs to include more than 1,400 “competitive areas” — an increase of hundreds of categories since its first notice this spring — including new units within the Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and Office of the Secretary, according to an internal document."

"As the climate warms, new data shows huge swaths of land across the globe are quickly drying, threatening humanity’s supply of fresh water."

"Will the administration’s ongoing push to open federal lands for housing development face the same public backlash that Sen. Mike Lee triggered?" 

"Old oil wells on the reservation spew chemical-laden water. The feds have done little to honor treaty obligations to clean them up."

"Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, have for years worked alongside private mine security to surveil the largely peaceful protesters who oppose the mine, called Thacker Pass, according to more than 2,000 pages of internal law enforcement communications reviewed by ProPublica."